My Word: Safety's key to growth

June 26, 2011|By Bruce Stephenson

Metropolitan Orlando ranks 26th in population, 83rd in mass-transit access, first in pedestrian death rates, and last in real-estate market vitality. Add almost-$4 a gallon gas to an unrelenting stream of foreclosures, and the death knell is tolling for suburban expansion.

Our region is floundering, awash in auto-oriented subdivisions — dated, inefficient products that continue to depreciate. Capitalism's "creative destruction" is running full bore. An energy-inefficient business model, General Motors learned, is folly. It is time to reset and move on.

Fortunately, there is a path to prosperity. Although foreclosure rates remain at Great Depression levels in outlying areas, close-in submarkets are stabilizing.

Mills Park, Orlando's most significant new development, hints at the future. The 14-acre mixed-use project will house 600 residences in two- to seven-story buildings, along with stores, offices, a park and a bike path. Its urban lifestyle plays to a key demographic — Baby Boomers and Generation Y. Yet, building similar projects remains tenuous until we reform Central Florida's "Roads 'R Us" transportation system.

The sanctity of life is vital to public policy, and Central Florida's radically unbalanced transportation system is a matter of life and death. If Metro Orlando's driving death rate were applied nationwide, fatalities would soar by 15,000. By contrast, applying pedestrian-friendly Portland, Ore.'s, rate would reduce fatalities by 15,000.

SunRail is step one in developing cost-effective, energy-efficient transportation alternatives, according to U.S. Rep. John Mica. With SunRail, the car becomes an option, and building up rather than out becomes financially feasible. Placing transit, shopping and parks within walking distance of residents reduces both auto trips and the taxpayer's burden because infrastructure costs less than suburban projects. Transit-oriented neighborhoods are also an investment in public health. They increase the daily regimen of walking, which lowers long-term health costs, and with a safe biking environment, obesity rates can drop by 15 percent.

Recently, Mica inexplicably wavered on the federal mandate to fund pedestrian and bicycle improvements. Elimination of the mandate should tie to benchmarks to measure progress. So long as Orlando leads the nation in pedestrian deaths and bicycling remains impaired, the mandate should apply.

I suggest two benchmarks to eliminate the mandate: Lower pedestrian deaths from the 100th to the 75th percentile; and raise the bicycle commuter rate to 2 percent (Portland's is 4 percent). Besides upholding the sanctity of life, this would secure a more energy-efficient transportation system and the foundation for a prosperous new urbanism.

Bruce Stephenson is director of the Master of Planning in Civic Urbanism program at Rollins College.